A change of perspective
by ProfSrlojohn
Summary: My first fanfiction, set after the end of Vol. 6. Neo has been abused by Cinder one too many times, and so, she runs runs off, to get along by herself, but after a situation dumps her right into the arms of the protagonists, both sides must learn to set their animosities aside. Silent Knight shipping. Rated T, but has little to no language, and is completely chaste.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Thank you to anyone who reads this. This is my first real fanfic, and I hope you will all like it! Comments and critiques are greatly appreciated! There will be no strong language, or sexual content, so it will be safe for the kiddos, but I'm not sure how the rating system handles chaste romance, and combat, so it's safer to rate it teen. Enjoy!**

Neopolitan was feeling depressed. It had been almost a year or so since she'd lost Roman, and the wound still felt fresh. It didn't help that Cinder and her cronies were complete jerks. Well, not complete jerks, Mercury seemed to be decent, he, at least, wasn't openly mocking.

BANG!

The door to their hideout slammed open and Cinder came in, fuming. Neo tried to make herself look small in the chair she was sitting in. Maybe Cinder wouldn't notice Neo's presence. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Cinder turned Neo's chair around, spinning her away from the computer screen she had been looking at. "You! It's your fault we failed! As usual!" Cinder screamed at Neo, barely a few inches from her face. Neo mimed that she had done her job, and that they had overreached. Cinder shove the chair back, and stood up, furious. "You are useless! I don't even know why I keep you around." She noticed the computer screen behind Neo. The screen had an image viewing program up, with a picture of Roman on it, prepared to print. Neo had been intending to print out some pictures, so that she could keep a physical copy with her at all times. Looking at his pictures always improved her mood. Cinder smirked. "I see…" she said, with a mocking tone, "You still care about that useless dirtbag, don't you?" She quickly tossed neo out her chair, who landed on the floor with a thud, and sat down. She opened the file editor and selected all of Neo's pictures. When Neo stood up, she watched, to her horror, as cinder deleted all of the photos on both the computer and scroll. Neo could feel the tears welling up inside her. Her only images of Roman, gone forever. Cinder stood up with a cruel laugh. "You're just like him. Pathetic." She laughed again, as Neo ran out of the room, right past mercury, who had been walking into the room. "Wha?" he exclaimed, as Neo ducked under his left arm, and into the hallway beyond.

Neo ran up the stairs, to the small room she had claimed for herself. It wasn't much, but there was bed, her umbrella, Roman's bowler, and a minifridge holding her personal ice cream stash. She had to keep the fridge locked, because she knew Mercury would steal it in the night otherwise, the idiot. She fell facedown the bed, and sobbed into the pillow, a turmoil of emotions swirling through her. Sadness over Roman, anger at Cinder, shock at what Cinder had done, and a general sense of misery. She lay there for a few minutes, before there was a knock at her door. "Hey Neo?" said a voice. It was Mercury. "Can I come in?" he asked, oddly quiet for him. She didn't answer. He came in anyway and sat at the foot of the bed. "Hey, you alright?" He asked, a stupid question. She sat up, and turned to look at him, giving him a 'do I look alright?' glare. "Alright! Alright!" he held up his hands defensively. "Just asking!" His look of mock fear cheered her a little. They sat there in silence for several minutes, neither of them looking at each other. "You know, if you wanted to leave, I wouldn't blame you." She looked at him in false shock, like she hadn't considered that before. "hey, it was just a suggestion. To be honest, I don't understand why don't just leave." He said. Neo wondered that herself actually. Why didn't she leave? There was nothing for her here. The only reason she had gone along with Cinder, was because she said she was going after that Ruby Rose girl. Since then though, they had been more focused on finding some relic than find the girl. "I mean, it's not like Salem knows who you are, or even that you exist. You could leave right now, and not worry about being hunted down. Not like me." He sighed. "You're lucky that way, you know? Torchwick may not have been the brightest crystal in the dust shop, but he was smart enough to keep you hidden." He explained, "you don't have to worry about 'abandoning the cause' or crap like that," Neo looked down at the floor, thinking. She didn't have to worry about that did she? She could jump out a window, and Cinder would never find her. "I'd even help you, if you want me to." She looked at him at surprise. "I wouldn't wish this life on anyone. Heck, I'd leave if I could, but I can't. Tyrian would track me down if I tried to leave." He turned to look at her, and she looked him in the eyes, then nodded. "Alright then, I'll distract her, when you first leave. Knock on your door when you're ready, got it?" He asked. Neo nodded, and stood up. She grabbed Roman's hat from her bedstand, and he umbrella. She didn't have much else. Neo looked at Mercury and nodded. "You travel light, don't you?" he said with a chuckle. Then he stood up, his metal legs clanking against the wooden floor. "Alright then. Happy travels." He said nonchalantly and walked out the door. Before he fully left though, he stopped, and put his hand on the door, and looked back. "And hey, take care of yourself." He said, before he walked out into the hallway, and closed the door behind him. Neo exhaled deeply. Maybe Mercury wasn't such a bad guy after all. She cleared her thoughts and opened her window. It was only a few feet to the building next door, but they were three stories up. Neo stepped carefully out onto the ledged, and mentally prepared herself for the jump. Don't think, just do, Roman had always told her. She extended her legs and jumped. She landed firmly on the roof of the next building. Freedom. It was exhilarating. She ran and jumped to the next building, then the next, and then the next. She disappeared into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Figured I'd post the second chapter in the same day, as I already had it done before Chapter one. Not as long as the previous chapter, but this was a good break, so I'd figure I'd separate them here. In addition, we get the first appearance of our favorite shaggy-haired knight! Enjoy!**

Neo was free. Wonderfully, gloriously free! After being under Cinder's thumb for so long, it felt both strange and wonderful to do whatever she wished. There was one hitch though, she had a limited amount of lien, and while she could easily steal some, in town such as Atlas, that proved to be much harder compared to Vale. She walked the busy streets, grabbing a poorly defended wallet, and slipping it into her pocket. That was easy, she thought. She turned into a nearby alleyway to check her prize. Meh, only a few measly hundred lien. Still, it was more than Neo had before. She put the cards into her pocket and discarded the empty wallet. Neo was about to leave the alley, when she was confronted by three figures. They stood in front of her, blocking her. One was large, burly, and has a scar running down his face. The second, was tall and lanky, with newsboy cap on his head, while the third was middling size, and obviously female. "Well, well, well, what have we here lads?" asked the woman. "Dunno boss" Said the tall one, is a high, weaselly voice, "looks like a kid encroaching on our turf, Brutus?" The big one spoke up. "Sure looks like that to me boss." The woman in the middle, clearly the leader, tisked. "Too bad for her, huh? We don't like competition, do we?" She leaned forward, and put her hand on Neo's chin, who immediately shook it off and took a step back. "why don't you give that cash to us? How about that sweetheart?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. When Neo shook her head adamantly, refusing to give it up, the woman's face hardened. "Wrong choice. Get her boys." The big one immediately rushed towards her, and Neo deftly dodged underneath his arm, while also deploying the blade on her umbrella. The big fellow, unable to stop his momentum, slammed into the wall, slammed into the wall. The skinny one had drawn a knife, and was lunging at Neo, with big, sweeping strokes. Neo deftly dodged or parried his strikes. She had managed to wrench the knife out of his hand, when the big fellow lunged at her from behind. She managed to dodge his lunge, and he barreled int his compatriot. A shot rang out, and Neo felt her Aura drop considerably. She turned to see the leader holding a large, 44. Magnum revolver. The leader pulled back the hammer with the speed and practice of an expert marksman, before Neo had time to fully move from her spot. The bullet hit Neo in her side. It bounced off harmlessly, but she felt her Aura drop to almost nothing. By this time, the other two thugs had picked themselves up, and turned on Neo again. As good of a fighter as Neo was, dodging bullets, a knife, and flailing fists was no easy feat, especially with low aura. Neo had dodged a couple more shots, knocked the big thug unconscious by hitting his head against the wall, and disarmed the tall thug several times, before a bad step sprained her ankle. She soundlessly gasped in pain, as her ankle gave out, distracting her enough for the knife user to give her a nasty gash on her side. She slammed the tall thug over the head with her umbrella, the strength of the fabric knocking him out. Another shot rang out, and Neo quickly opened her umbrella, the bullet bouncing off it. The shot pushed her back however, and that, combined with her bad ankle, allowed her to trip easily over the body of the big thug behind her. Neo hit the ground with a thud. The Woman walked up to her and kicked her umbrella away. She put a foot on Neo's chest and pointed the gun at Neo's head. "Heh, last shot for the final blow. How poetic." The woman said, when suddenly she went stiff, and collapsed to the ground on top of Neo. Behind where the female thug was, stood a blonde, shaggy haired teenager, a sword and shield in his hand, who was vaguely familiar to Neo. Unfortunately for her, the blood loss was making her groggy, and she began to fade from consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Welp, chapter 3. A big thanks to ArnoldStroong for tips on refining the style. Thanks a lot man!**

"We should just take her outside and dump her before she wakes up." A voice said.

"Before her wounds even have the chance to heal? That would make us worse than those which we fight." Another voice reasoned, older sounding than the others.

"It's that or let her expose our location Oz." The first voice replied.

"We could always drug her, and keeper her until we get all the information we need." A third, deeper voice said.

Neo opened her eyes and sat up with a silent groan. Her head was pounding from a headache. She touched her side and was surprised to feel a wrapping of clean bandages. She leaned over to take off her boot and check her ankle, but to her surprise, her boot was off, and her foot was wrapped in a splint. The splint was less well made than the wraps around her abdomen, it appeared to be made with ripped pieces of black fabric, and broken pieces of wood. Why would they tend to her wounds? She was the enemy! They had no reason whatsoever to help her at all. Actually, now that she thought about, they did. She knew the location to Cinder's hideout, they could use that, couldn't they? Would they torture her for it?

Neo decided to take in her surroundings. She was in a room, done in an archaic style, sunlight filtering through from a pair of large French doors, leading to a balcony. The only other exit was an exquisite, oak door. The walls where an off-white, and the room was filled with antique-styled furniture, including a large wooden dresser, a vanity, and a trio of chairs, currently occupied by three men and a boy.

"Ah! Miss Politan, you're awake. Excellent."

The boy, about 13 years old or so, got out of his chair, and walked over to the bed Neo was laying in.

"Great, there goes my plan." Said a gruff voice, the source of which was a slim man, with a scraggly beard, and a button-up shirt, with top few buttons undone. The man stood up out of his chair and began to walk out of the room.

"Sad to say, I have no other great ideas, so I'll leave you two to." The man said and walked out of the room.

"Good riddance" Muttered the other man, also standing up. He was dressed in an Atlesian military uniform with the marks of a general. His jaw was heavy set, and covered with a large, black beard. His hair on the other hand, was beginning to gray, and above his right eyebrow was a small metal plate.

"Well Oz, I hope you will consider my suggestions. She's a valuable source of information, and we shouldn't let her go to waste. I'll send Penny to guard the door." With that, her strode out of the room, with powerful, measured steps. When he had passed the doorframe, he tapped something next to the door on the outside. Out of nowhere, several iron bars slid down behind the windows and balcony door, darkening the room with a loud clang.

"Well, Miss Politan," The boy addressed as Oz began. "I hope you understand what a bind you've put us in."

Neo looked at him with a befuddled look. Why didn't they just interrogate and kill her and be done with it? That was the easiest method for the both of them.

"I can't in good conscious put you on the street for two reasons, one, is the fact is that you've seen our safe house, and are now a security risk, and the second is your own injured state." He began to explain, "I also can't interrogate you either, for that would make me as bad as Salem, and I can't have that. Therefore, our only option is to keep you here until further notice."

Neo let a little bit of her tension release. She wasn't going to be tortured or pried for information, that was good, but he must have another angle. Some other way he was going to try and get information out of her.

"In time, if you prove trustworthy, I might let you wander the house, but for now, I must confine you to your room. I'm sure you understand."

Neo gave no sign of emotion. She prided herself on her poker face.

"Meals will be brought at the appropriate time" he explained, gesturing with a cane at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

"If you need something, there is a scroll embedded in the side table. You may be a prisoner, but you are also a guest of sorts, so make yourself comfortable."

Neo rolled her eyes as this Oz character walked from her bead and out of her room, closing and locking the door behind him. Who did he think he was? Some noble hero, offering her 'grace and mercy'? Bah! She didn't need his help, or anyone else's, she would do just fine on her own. No one really trusted her anyway, besides Roman. She just needed to get out of this dump. Then, she heard voices outside.


	4. Chapter 4

"Salutations, Jaune!" A chipper voice said, loudly.

"Hi Penny, You alright?" A male voice said, presumably Jaune.

"Perfect!" Penny responded, "I am currently guarding this door, like the general told me!"

"That's great! Hey, do you think it's alright if I go inside?"

"I do not know." Penny replied, sounding pensive, but not quite, "The general said that she's not supposed to come out, and I'm supposed to stop her if she tries."

"But he never said that the rest of us couldn't go in, right?" Jaune countered.

"I guess not… Okay!" Penny replied, uncomfortably chipper.

No one should be that happy, Neo thought. It's unnatural. The door clicked open, to reveal a lanky, blonde, fellow, who looked about 19 years old. He wore a black hoodie, with some unfamiliar rabbit logo, and jeans. All in all, the most lackluster, idiotic-looking dork she had ever seen in her life.

Neo looked at him unimpressed, as if to say, _who are you, and what do you want?_

"Well, at least it's good to see you are okay." Jaune said as he entered the room.

Neo signed out, _what's it to you?_ in Remnesian sign language, even though she doubted this guy would understand it.

"I'm the guy who took down the last thug, if that's what you were asking." Jaune answered.

Neo looked at him in surprise. How could some idiot like this blonde bozo know Remnesian sign? Most average people didn't even know it existed, let alone understand it. _How do you understand this? Most people don't even know what this is! _She asked.

"One of my sisters was deaf from birth, and one of my older sisters drudged this stuff up out of a book somewhere. It helped a lot."

_Since someone here can finally understand me, where are my things?_

"Your what? Sorry, I'm not as good as I used to be, lack of practice."

_My things you blond dolt!_

"OH! I got ya! Here." He said, as he walked over to a large closet, and opened it. Inside was… nothing.

"What? What did you have?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Neo.

_Just a black bowler with a red band, and my umbrella, nothing to be concerned about._ She told him. Maybe, if he could find her umbrella, she could try and fight her way out of here.

"If you mean a pink, frilly umbrella, I saw it downstairs in the armory. Ruby was picking it apart for some reason, not sure why. No sign of a hat either."

WHAT!? Neo thought. The umbrella was concerning, but what had her more concerned was the hat. That's all she had left of Roman, and she wasn't ready to lose that too. Did they take it from me as a form of torture? As a bribe? Why? They probably didn't know the significance of it… did they?

When she came back to herself, she saw Jaune staring at her, worried.

"Are you okay? Was the hat important?"

Neo hesitated before answering, she didn't want them to know the hat's significance.

_Not especially, I just like it._ She answered.

"Oh, okay, I'll let you know if I find it. Anything else you need?" he asked.

Not from you, Neo thought bitterly. What could he have to offer?

_No, not really. _She told him.

"Well, aright then, see you later I guess." He said this with a strangely deep look on his face, like he was considering a matter of great importance. Without looking back at her, he walked out the door, locking it behind him.

Neo lay back on the bed, suddenly exhausted from the previous day's exertion, and the mental turmoil of today. Despite the early morning sun that was streaming through the window, she blissfully fell asleep.


End file.
